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Tag Archive for Radwan Ziadeh

October 7, 2011

State Dept Tool Radwan Ziadeh With Hillary

US State Department tool Radwan Ziadeh today called for a war on Syria. Speaking on Aljazeera’s prime-time, evening newscast “daily harvest”, Washington’s favorite Syrian “human rights activist” did not actually utter the word “war”, but that word is rarely used even by the powers that wage the war. Instead he opted for the agreed upon euphemism of “international protection.” He went on to explain “international protection” would be justified under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter. Like the minute fraction of Arabs (they are always a minute fraction) that previously supported Western wars on Iraq and Libya, Ziadeh and a handful of like-minded friends are quick to cite Chapter 7 as a “legal basis” for their self-serving collaboration and a fig leaf for their treason. This is not the first time Ziadeh has expressed his support for a potential war on Syria, but he’s never been as clear as he was today.

Short of the American military invasion and occupation of Syria which Ziadeh is hoping for, at which time he can fly into Damascus on a US Air Force C-17 like Ahmad Chalabi arrived in Iraq, he is unlikely to ever return to the country where he would certainly be arrested and put on trial for treason regardless if the current regime remains in power or not. Ziadeh, who has appeared before anti-Syrian, Zionist groups, has also expressed his willingness, in the event he becomes part of a Western-installed regime in Damascus, to recognize the Zionist entity and continues his silence on Israel’s occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights.

September 5, 2011

In a Washington Post article about Radwan Ziadeh the author cleverly suggested that Ikhras had criticized the Ahmad Chalabi of Syria for, among other things, addressing a Jewish group:

On a Web site called Ikhras — “shut up” in Arabic — he is described as an American-approved “democracy and human rights advocate” who does not represent the Syrian people or their aspirations. The writers rail at him for addressing the American Jewish Committee and mock his reedy voice and uninspiring speeches.

Without identifying the American Jewish Committee as a component of the pro-Israel lobby, which we did in our piece on Ziadeh, the reader is left with the impression that Ikhras was criticizing Ziadeh for meeting with a Jewish group, subtly raising the anti-Semitic charge routinely hurled at anyone who criticizes the Zionist state. Here is what we wrote in the context of raising questions about Ziadeh’s relationship with anti-Syrian, pro-Israel organizations in Washington DC:

Ziadeh also recently appeared before the rabidly anti-Syrian, racist Zionist group TheAmerican Jewish Committee (AJC). The AJC is one component of the Pro-Israel Lobby in Washington. The group which has been described as the “foreign policy wing of the Israel lobby” has taken its activities abroad to promote and defend the Zionist entity. The group has also campaigned for defining any criticism of Israel, a hostile entity in a state of war with Syria that occupies the Golan Heights and remains committed to the destruction of Palestine, as anti-Semitic. The obvious questions are why was Ziadeh invited to share the stage with Zionist fanatics like Gary Bauer, Elliot Abrams, and Jeffrey Goldberg. What was it about Ziadeh that won him the approval of this pro-Israel organization and earned him an invitation to speak at their event? And why would any Syrian “Human Rights advocate” take his case to this group? These are but a few of the questions swirling around the activities of Washington’s favorite Syrian.

August 22, 2011

Radwan Ziadeh and a couple of his friends (one of them a member of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood) have recognized the Zionist entity. Ziadeh is currently Washington’s favorite Syrian and someone auditioning for the role of the Ahmad Chalabi of Syria. At a press conference held in Moscow after a recent trip to the Russian capital to lobby the Russians on behalf of American foreign policy, the two were grilled by the Syrians in attendance. They were asked to reveal the source of their funding, questioned about their relationship with the U.S. Government, and their position on Israel. They were also asked why neither they nor their children are in Syria protesting. They refused to answer the question about funding or why they refuse to allow their children to participate in protests inside Syria. Ziadeh and his friend from the Syrian MB also made it clear they recognize the Zionist state, and would support the Arab dictators’ “peace initiative.” Visibly uncomfortable, Ziadeh and his two friends refused to address the Syrians’ questions opting instead to suggest the Syrians are agents of the regime. It’s common among Washington’s puppets, especially the ones acting as a conduit for U.S. power to oppose regimes unfriendly to American political interests, to accuse anyone questioning their positions or tactics of being agents of a regime as if the only choices available to Arab citizens is supporting their rulers or self-serving collaboration with a foreign power. This video clearly illustrates how Washington’s pliant Syrian tools would be viewed by the Syrian people.

July 28, 2011

In the last week of every month Ikhras presents the Muntadhar Zaidi “Shoe of the month” Award to the House Arab or Muslim individual or organization in the United States whose behavior that month best exemplifies what Malcolm X described, in the language of his own time, as the “house negro” (see video). The award is named in honor of the brave Iraqi journalist Muntadhar Zaidi who threw his shoes at the war criminal George W. Bush at a time House Arabs and Muslims were dining with him at the White House and inviting him to their mosques.

Ikhras is pleased to announce that the winner of the Muntadhar Zaidi Shoe of the Month Award for July 2011 is Radwan Ziadeh. A self-declared “Human Rights Activist”, Mr. Ziadeh is currently Washington’s favorite Syrian and can usually be found attending meeting and events at the State Department and auditioning for a role as the Ahmad Chalabi of Syria. He’s very liberal, very Pro-American government– Basically everything America likes. Before presenting Mr.Ziadeh with the July 2011 Ikhras Shoe let’s take a look at how the Syrian Hakawati and inspirational, fiery orator beat out the competition for this prestigious award.

June 4, 2011

Radwan Ziadeh: Fighting For Democracy At the State Department

Radwan Ziadeh is the type of American-approved “democracy and human rights advocate” that gives lectures at the National Endowment For Democracy and receives invitations to the State Department, but does not represent the Syrian people or their aspirations.

Radwan Ziadeh, a signer of the Damascus Declaration, went to the State Department, in Washington, D.C., to hear President Obama assess the current Arab Spring, which has brought forth popular revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt as well as mass protests elsewhere, including in Syria,

Anyone who wants to support the Arab uprisings, promote democracy and human rights, or fight tyranny by appealing to the American government immediately casts doubts and suspicions on their role in what may be a legitimate and worthy cause. These individuals are quickly dismissed by the same Arab people whose cause they claim to support. This is especially true when it comes to Syria, a country targeted by a hostile US foreign policy throughout its entire recent history.

Despite its endless propaganda about American values, democracy , and freedom, the US government has never been an advocate of such values and a quick review of its foreign policy in any region of the world since the end of World War II shows it has has almost always sought to undermine them. In the Arab world the US is the biggest purveyor of violence, the protector of the Zionist colonial regime in Palestine, a hostile imperialist power, and the biggest obstacle to freedom and democracy. If you’re appealing to Washington you no longer have a role to play in any pro-democracy movement especially in Syria where there is an uncompromising unanimity among the people in opposition to American hegemony, and foreign meddling.

The US has opposed the Syrian regime not for its support of “terrorism”, or lack of democratic rule, but for precisely the very same policies which Syrian opponents and supporters of the regime would both support and seek to preserve: a Syrian regional role based on confronting and defeating the Zionist colonial project in Palestine, preserving Syria’s centrality in the region and its independent decision making, and a rejection of any foreign meddling in the internal affairs of the country. Given the US government’s belligerent policies in the region, its abysmal anti-democratic record, and consistent anti-Syrian policies, common sense and human decency would dictate that anyone interested in bringing about change in Syria would begin by a rejection of any US interference.